How it was invented. When communicating with their superiors in the United States, the American colonial authorities needed to regularly check the time zones because of the time difference between the United States and the Philippines.
The International Date Line dictates that the eastern zone, where Philippine time belongs, is 24 hours or a day ahead of the western zone, where U.S. time belongs. Nature has it that Philippine time is ahead and that American time is behind.
It became uncomfortable for the American colonizers because anything American must always be the superior. That had to be reversed by inventing the Filipino time theory. They found the right time to invent it when they met with those few elite who were always latecomers.
Had the Spanish colonizers invented it, Filipino time would have been called hora de Filipino. Or it would have been oras ng Pilipino, since the Spaniards did not teach us their language but studied and used ours. Its English name itself is the groaning proof that it is an American invention.
Intellectual decolonization. The Spanish colonizers practiced their own time here in the Philippines—always late. Some of our elite ancestors borrowed it. And the American colonizers gave it a name (Filipino time), and wove it into the Filipino consciousness.
Because of the negative remarks that the Americans instilled into the Filipino thinking, like the Filipino time, it is now common to find people who do nothing but praise anything associated with Americans and belittle anything associated with Filipinos.
That is a fruit of “what was eaten is what will be belched.”
Let us now free ourselves from the wrong thinking implanted in us by our colonizers. We should no longer swallow—so that we would no longer belch—what had been wrongfully fed to us. It’s intellectual decolonization.
The real or genuine Filipino time is being early or on time. We Filipinos prove this ourselves when we arrive early or on time in our respective destinations. If there are people who come late, they are not the majority. Which fact weighs heavier: The few who are late, or the majority who are early or on time?
To decolonize our minds, let us stop being narrow-minded: Always bashing the Filipinos as if we were totally hopeless and useless, and insulting the entire Filipino race for the faults of some people. If there are latecomers, think or say: “There are people who are really like that.” Use people, instead of Filipino.
Having latecomers on occasions cannot be avoided because there is no perfect person, race, or country. There will really be individuals who will be late, whatever their races are.
About Jon E. Royeca
your testimony is kin’da inspiring to hear, hope that i can see more of your articles
Thank you, rhAine.
oh. you’re welcome, in fact i wanna thank tou because your article helps me a lot in my APA thesis ,,hmm.thank you again hope that i can read more of your testimonies.hehe
keep always the time of Filipino on time.
oh! i used to go to the meetings 15 minutes early to familiarize myself with the audience, not anymore …
i guess filipino time is slowly creeping to other culture.
that won’t be shock for me…btw i’m still on the dot.
whatever i do i can’t stomach to blame on somebody because
it’s me.
“i guess filipino time is slowly creeping to other culture.”
What do you mean? The always-late habit has emanated from us and is now spreading to other lands? That’s a pernicious accusation.
Don’t other cultures have it?
Thanks you for your insightful essays and i am glad that there are others who look beyond the blind criticism of Filipino culture to look at its historical roots. Really, this is needed to counter pernicious writers like the infamous “damaged culture” Fallows guy who denigrates things he does not understand. Sadly, instead of being critical of this, so many “educated” Pinoys jumped onthe bandwagon and agreed with him without even looking at the historical context and background. good job!
Thank you, Ms. Habana. I hope more of us would realize that what others (anti-Filipinos) have been saying against ourselves inflict severe damages on the way we look at and consider ourselves as a people. Even if it is inherent in the human being to criticize, at least, we should avoid those anti-Filipino remarks that debase our race.
Just to add to that in Brazil, VIP’s are expected to come late for everything. It’s not just 1 hour. People who perform well at school are the ones who never arrive early. It’s part of the Brazilian culture.
Thank you for your article. Like you, I am very patriotic.
Having travelled, live and worked in US & UK, I found your observation quite irritating on Filipino time. Go teach in philippines schools and you’ll see reality, students got that knack for arriving late with a million excuses.
WHY do people think that ?
[brock]
As answers, the reader is advised to read the article again, as well as the first and second parts of this series:
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks/
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks-colonial-legacies/
Thank you.
stoneybert:
If there are students who arrive late, they are not the majority.
If my comments on Filipino time are irritating, it’s because you already have the premise that Filipinos are erratic. Whatever good that we Filipinos do will always mean nothing to anti-Filipinos like you.
Alfonso:
Thank you for the information on Brazil.
I hope you are sincere in saying you are patriotic. There are some people who claim that they like what I write, but make a 380-degree turn after I have thanked them.
hello Mr. Royeca
my classmates and I have a research study about ‘Filipino time’. Thanks to your article,it help us a lot and it perfectly fits for our research. may we know your sources or references for your article? Can you give us some books about it that will help us in our research?
thank you!
@ aldrin
Thank you for reading and for the comment.
My sources are Rizal’s novels, the Noli and Fili, as stated in the article. You may also visit:
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks/
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks-colonial-legacies/
These articles explain why there are anti-Filipino prejudices, like the “Filipino time.”
“Filipino time” is an English term. Who else would invent it?
Some may question why I used Rizal’s novels as bases for this article, since those novels are fictional works.
Although Rizal’s novels are works of fiction, their setting, characters, and tempo are based on actual events. Rizal himself attested to this.
In a letter to his Austrian friend Ferdinand Blumentritt dated Berlin, Germany, March 21, 1887, Rizal said:
“[The Noli} is the first impartial and bold book on the life of the Tagalogs. The Filipinos will find in it the history of the last ten years. ... The government and the friars will probably attack the work, refuting my arguments, but I trust in the God of Truth and in the persons who have seen our sufferings at close range. Here I answer all the insults, which have been intended to belittle us. ..."
-- The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961, Part 1, p. 62.
---
In a letter to a compatriot dated Berlin, March 7, 1887, Rizal said:
"Noli Me Tangere, words taken from the Gospel of Saint [John], mean ‘touch me not.’ The book contains, then, things that nobody in our country had spoken of until the present. They are so delicate that they cannot be touched by [anyone].
“With reference to myself, I have attempted to do what nobody had wished to do. I have replied to the calumnies that for so many centuries have heaped on us and our country.
“I have described the social condition, the life there, our beliefs, our hopes, our desires, our complaints, our sorrows. …
“I have lifted the curtain in order to show what is behind the deceitful and glittering words of our government.
“I have told our compatriots our defects, our vices, our culpable and cowardly complacency with the miseries over there. Whenever I have found virtue[,] I have proclaimed it and render homage to it. …
“The incidents I relate are all true and they happened; I can give proofs of them. My book may have and it has defects from the artistic or aesthetic point of view. I don’t deny it[,] but what cannot be questioned is the impartiality of my narration.”
– Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1973, pp. 83-84.
—
Rizal’s novels are works of fiction, but they also sincerely portray the political, social, and cultural colors of the period when the novels were written.
The “always late” instance involving the Spaniard Linares is in Chapter 60 (61 in other versions) of the Noli: “Wedding Plans for Maria Clara.”
The “always late” instance in the Fili is in Chapter 22: “The Performance.”
Simoun’s criticism of imitating the Spanish, including their defects, is in Chapter 7: “Simoun.”
I think the negative connotation of “Filipino time” only refers to tardiness in socializing and social events and I don’t think its a bad thing! But we’re not alone in that – the Russians, the Italians, even the Kiwis come in late for their social gatherings even though they may come in on time for business meetings or school or airplane rides!
Everything I say is based on observation.
The thing about modern Filipino Time, is that it only happens informal meetings, rarely on formal. If a group of friends agreed to meet at 10, they would think to themselves “They will be late so I’d rather be late than showing up early and end up being a loner.” If someone arrives early, he or she learns his/her lesson and will not come early next time they decided to meet again. Thus, we are trapped on a dilemma, being late or a loner.
In formal meetings, late comers usually is a result of thinking that “I don’t want to be early (what would I do there?), I want to be on time”. But because they only estimated, external factors like heavy traffic and other misfortunes was not taken in consideration, thus, they will be late.
@ Antonio, Lex: Perhaps, it could be. And I really agree that other peoples also come late. This only shows that humans are indeed humans. We will never be perfect. Thanks for reading this piece.
your article is very inspiring and well-researched if i may say.
it’s sad though that some filipinos adhere to the “filipino time” concept and even use it as an excuse for their tardiness. but with writers like you i hope we can spread the word and change this.
@ mc: Thanks. I really wish that the real Filipino time (daig ng maagap ang taong masipag) will once again be our concept of time.
I also want to thank this site for heping me in doing my essay.